Ink stamping devices for various industrial and commercial applications having a variety of features are well-known in the prior art. Some of the applications for such devices include assembly line manufacturing processes wherein various parts and sub-assemblies produced in high volume require identifying markings, such as part numbers for example. Other applications include marking containers or boxes with certain indicia such as contents, production information, shelf life and the like.
Many of the automated ink marking devices are relatively complex and expensive, such as sophisticated printers and the like. A relatively low cost contact ink printer capable of high volume and clear strong imprints is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,341. Reliable high volume printers generally include a stamping die which must be returned to an ink recharging position engaging a supply of ink to assure that a clear imprint is placed on the workpiece in a reliable manner.
While a printer such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,341 works quite satisfactorily with respect to reliability and marking, it requires a significant amount of downtime in applications which require relatively frequent changes in the color or type of ink used or when the ink pad becomes in need of replacement for any other reason.
In prior contact stamping devices of this type, the whole ink supply assembly is required to be removed in order to implement a change of the color or the type of ink for any reason and then repositioned on the machine. Then it must again be attached to the frame and precisely registered in a proper sealed relationship with the stamping die assembly to avoid poor marking performance and to prevent dry out of the ink supply during non-use. This time consuming procedure results in costly downtime which limits production capacity of the line. If this time-consuming procedure is not done properly, poor quality marking may occur and result in further lost production time while corrective procedures are carried out.